How to Be a Faithful Servant: Remember Your Role

You would be hard-pressed to find a more privileged, yet pitiful, church in all of Scripture than the church in Corinth. They had received the gospel from the apostle Paul, had been discipled by him, and knew the truth (Acts 18:1–11). Yet somewhere along the way, they had lost sight of what was most important. And the result was a church in disarray.

The pitiful situation in Corinth prompted a response from Paul that is full of wisdom for Christians and biblical counselors. One piece of wisdom that’s especially striking is Paul’s corrective to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3:5–15. It’s effectively a blueprint for how to be a faithful servant of God, and it takes the shape of three reminders: first, Paul reminded them of the servant’s role (vv. 5–7); second, the servant’s work (vv. 8–10); and third, the servant’s exam (vv. 11–15). This article will consider Paul’s first reminder—the servant’s role (vv. 5–7).

The Problem

Apparently, a report had come back to Paul that the church in Corinth was no longer looking out for the interests of one another. Instead, they were suppressing one another in order to get the upper hand (1 Corinthians 1:11–12). Unwittingly, they had turned Christianity into a competitive sport. They viewed one another as rivals, and their ambition was to follow the spiritual leader who they perceived to be the “best” (1:12; 3:4). They were a church full of divisions and embattled against themselves. They were overflowing with rivalry and selfish ambition rather than self-sacrificial love (cf. James 3:16)

Paul’s sober evaluation was that the infighting in the church was due to their spiritual immaturity (3:1–4). They were living like spiritual infants. Yet Paul was hopeful that they would hear him out, turn from their ego-driven, competitive mindset, and grow into the kind of servants God would have them to be.

The Role

Paul’s first step to get them back on the right track was to remind them of the servant’s role in God’s economy. So in 1 Corinthians 3:5 he writes, 

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.”

“Who exactly are these men you are fighting over?” asks the apostle. “What is Apollos? And what is Paul?” His answer: They are merely “servants.”

The word “servant” is from the Greek word διακονος. This is a familiar word. It’s where we get our word “deacon” or “minister”—which simply means “to render service.” It was used of table servants, messengers, and assistants—of anyone who got something done for someone else. That’s a servant. That was Paul’s role. He did what he did for someone else and not for himself. He did what he did for his Master (1 Corinthians 4:1).

And that’s the role of every Christian (Ephesians 4:12). We are servants of the Master. We serve Him by using the gifts, talents, and time He has given us to carry out His redemptive purposes in the world. That’s what we see in the middle of verse 5. Paul says that he and Apollos were merely “servants through whom you believed.” The servants are the means through which God works. God had used Paul as His voice to bring about the saving faith of the Corinthians. Paul had been the agent—the channel, the pipe—but he was not the source of their salvation.

Paul did not cause the Corinthians to come to faith. He lacked the power to do that. Paul had planted the seed, Apollos had come along a bit later and watered it, but in the end it was God—and only God—who had given life to the seed (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Could God have saved the Corinthians without Paul? Well, of course He could have. God can do whatever He wants. But, in God’s economy—in His plan—He has decreed that weak human agents (like you and me!) will be the vehicles through whom His gracious activity advances in the world. That is the role of a servant. The servant is simply the pipe through which the grace of God flows to others. It’s not about the pipe. It’s never been about the pipe. It’s always and only about the God of all grace.

The Goal

Servants, then, are the means through which God works, and the reason God has chosen to operate this way is so that He gets all the glory. That’s what we see in verse 7,

“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”

The word “so” here is significant. It’s actually a conjunction that points back to verse 6 and expresses the outcome or consequence of God’s activity of giving growth. The outcome is this: the servants are nothing and God is everything. Because God gives the growth, He gets all the glory.

The servants are simply servants—they’ve done only what was required of them (Luke 17:10). They are the means through which God works. They are the instrument in His hands. You don’t look at a brilliant painting and turn to praise the paint brush—you praise the artist who accomplished the work. The artist gets the glory. So, too, God has orchestrated the salvation and sanctification of men so that He will always get the glory for the work. Our agency as servants is designed to point to Him.

Conclusion

So, the first step towards being a faithful servant is to remember your role. As a servant, you are simply an instrument in the Master’s powerful hand. He gives the assignments and our responsibility is to carry out our work in such a way that He alone gets the glory.